Captain Barrie

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Captain Barrie The Captain, The Needles and the lighthouses Captain Barrie Robert Barrie 1774-1841 was born in Florida, USA on 5 May 1774. He was the son of Dr Robert Barrie, a Scottish surgeon’s mate. His father died when Barrie was an infant. His mother was Dorothea ‘Dolly’ Gardner, the sister of Admiral Lord Gardner. Barrie first saw active service aged 14 on board HMS Goliath in 1788. In 1795 Barrie was made Lieutenant and he joined HMS Queen in the Channel fleet. He was promoted to captain in 1802 and was appointed to HMS Pomone on 10 May 1806. In December 1806 Pomone was sailing from Portsmouth harbour as a terrible storm broke out. The men were on deck and in the rigging, trying to keep the ship stable in the rough conditions. Suddenly a freak bolt of lightning hit the ship. Barrie describes the accident in a letter to his step-brother: - "the Pomone was obliged to return to Spithead having sprung her Bowsprit off Portland - we were struck by lightning and twenty-two men were knocked down by it. However, they will all I trust recover except two Portsmouth Harbour, with the Haslar which are very doubtful cases - the weather Hospital in the distance. 1791 Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) was extremely bad and we had one of our best © Isle of Wight Council IWCMS.2002.171 men washed overboard". The members of Barrie’s crew were mostly new recruits, and this incident did not help him in the task of maintaining discipline on-board. When they got back into Spithead five of his men stole a boat; they reached the shore but were promptly captured. Barrie records the outcome Portsmouth Point with Gosport in of their desperate attempt, which resulted in a the distance. 1791 Court Martial: - "They are sentenced to 200 Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) © Isle of Wight Council IWCMS.2002.170 lashes each. The punishment will take place tomorrow." The Navy had no sympathy with deserters, especially in wartime. Serving in the Channel from 21 April to 7 June 1807 Barrie took or destroyed upwards of twenty enemy vessels. A very clean ship The Pomone had always been a very clean ship. Captain Barrie believed in everything being kept in the best condition. Whenever possible he had the men washing their clothes and hammocks. The bread room and the spirit room were cleaned whenever the ship was in Two brass uniform buttons with an port. anchor motif. IWCMS:20001.6.133 Barrie was also meticulous when it came to provisioning the Pomone. The food consisted of salt-beef, pork, peas, water,IWCMS:20001.6.133 beer and wine. He would take on supplies of fresh vegetables and he also kept animals on- board to provide fresh meat. On matters of welfare Barrie and his first lieutenant Gabriel both strove to support the crew. In port, when sailors' wives had to leave the ship, Barrie often asked his steward to give them a guinea each. When the rate of exchange in port was poor, he instructed crew to come to his cabin The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight. (Charles IV where he distributed a bagful of dollars for their 8 Reales from Lima 1803-8, use. Peru mint). IWCMS:20001.7.154 Barrie and Gabriel often granted generous shore leave to the crew, confident that this would not result in the usual desertions. Barrie and Canada The War of 1812 was a conflict fought between the United States and the United Kingdom, (June 1812 to February 1815). In October 1812 Barrie was commissioned Captain of the Dragon, taking a leading part in the blockade of Chesapeake Bay on the American east coast. For some months he was Commodore in charge of the British squadron, which during his command seized over 85 vessels. He was selected as Commander of a joint expedition to capture the settlement of Hampden (Maine, USA). Barrie destroyed the American frigate Adams and two other armed vessels. The British force also burned about 20 more vessels and took every town on the five mile stretch of river from Hampden to Bangor. Following the peace in 1815, Barrie was placed on half pay; he then married and went to live in France. In January 1819, after months of negotiations, he accepted the post of Commissioner of the dockyard at Kingston (Upper Canada), an appointment which made him the senior naval officer in the Canadas. He is remembered in Canada in a number of place-names, which include Barrie Island in Lake Huron, and the Ontario city of Barrie. Barrie died in June 1841 at Swarthdale near Lancaster and was buried at Ripley. A stained-glass window was dedicated to his memory in Ripley Church. The Needles The iconic Island landmark, 'The Needles' is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise about 30m (98 feet) out of the sea. They are to be found close to Alum Bay off the western end of the Isle of Wight. Originally the Needles consisted of four protruding rocks. The tallest rock was known as 'Lot's Wife'. It was tall and slender standing 36.5m (120 feet high). This rock collapsed in 1772 with a crash that was heard in Portsmouth. The Needles is a place of danger for shipping with over 20 named wrecks recorded in the vicinity. The Assurance, a 44-gun frigate sailing from Jamaica to Portsmouth, was lost in 1753, and HMS Pomone in 1811. In 1918, two ships SS Mechanican and SS Serrana were sunk in the vicinity by torpedoes from a German submarine. Perhaps the most famous wreck off The Needles is that of the Greek cargo ship, Varvassi, whose remains are still a danger to other vessels. Varvassi ran aground with a cargo of Algerian wine and tangerines on 5 January 1947: fortunately, all the crew, including the ship’s cat, were rescued. Lighthouse near the Needles. 1800 John Nixon 1740-1811. The lighthouses The 18th century lighthouse on the western tip of Highdown above the Needles. In 1781 numerous merchants and Watercolour © Carisbrooke Castle Museum Trust ship-owners petitioned Trinity House for a lighthouse near The Needles Rocks. They obtained a patent in January 1782 which directed that lights should be: "kept burning in the night season whereby seafaring men and mariners might take notice and avoid danger… and ships and other vessels of war might safely cruise during the night season in the British Channel". Negotiations must have failed because it was not until 1785 that Trinity House erected three lighthouses at The Needles, St. Catherine's Point and Hurst Point. The Needles tower was first lit on 29 September 1786. The tower was situated on top of the cliffs overhanging Scratchell's Bay. The light, 144m (472ft) above sea level was often obscured by sea mists and fogs and of limited use to mariners. The tower at Hurst, sited to the south west of Hurst Castle, was lit for the first time on 29 September 1786. However, shipping found that this light was obscured from certain directions, so in 1812 an additional and higher light was added to remedy this defect and to give a guiding line to vessels. The present Needles Lighthouse was built by Trinity House and first lit in 1859. Phone 01983 823433 Email - [email protected] Web - www.iwight.com/museums Isle of Wight Council Heritage Service .
Recommended publications
  • Influence of the Spatial Pressure Distribution of Breaking Wave
    Journal of Marine Science and Engineering Article Influence of the Spatial Pressure Distribution of Breaking Wave Loading on the Dynamic Response of Wolf Rock Lighthouse Darshana T. Dassanayake 1,2,* , Alessandro Antonini 3 , Athanasios Pappas 4, Alison Raby 2 , James Mark William Brownjohn 5 and Dina D’Ayala 4 1 Department of Civil and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Pitipana 10206, Sri Lanka 2 School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK; [email protected] 3 Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands; [email protected] 4 Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Science, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK; [email protected] (A.P.); [email protected] (D.D.) 5 College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QF, UK; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The survivability analysis of offshore rock lighthouses requires several assumptions of the pressure distribution due to the breaking wave loading (Raby et al. (2019), Antonini et al. (2019). Due to the peculiar bathymetries and topographies of rock pinnacles, there is no dedicated formula to properly quantify the loads induced by the breaking waves on offshore rock lighthouses. Wienke’s formula (Wienke and Oumeraci (2005) was used in this study to estimate the loads, even though it was not derived for breaking waves on offshore rock lighthouses, but rather for the breaking wave loading on offshore monopiles.
    [Show full text]
  • Layout 1 Copy
    STACK ROCK 2020 An illustrated guide to sea stack climbing in the UK & Ireland - Old Harry - - Old Man of Stoer - - Am Buachaille - - The Maiden - - The Old Man of Hoy - - over 200 more - Edition I - version 1 - 13th March 1994. Web Edition - version 1 - December 1996. Web Edition - version 2 - January 1998. Edition 2 - version 3 - January 2002. Edition 3 - version 1 - May 2019. Edition 4 - version 1 - January 2020. Compiler Chris Mellor, 4 Barnfield Avenue, Shirley, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 8SE. Tel: 0208 662 1176 – E-mail: [email protected]. Send in amendments, corrections and queries by e-mail. ISBN - 1-899098-05-4 Acknowledgements Denis Crampton for enduring several discussions in which the concept of this book was developed. Also Duncan Hornby for information on Dorset’s Old Harry stacks and Mick Fowler for much help with some of his southern and northern stack attacks. Mike Vetterlein contributed indirectly as have Rick Cummins of Rock Addiction, Rab Anderson and Bruce Kerr. Andy Long from Lerwick, Shetland. has contributed directly with a lot of the hard information about Shetland. Thanks are also due to Margaret of the Alpine Club library for assistance in looking up old journals. In late 1996 Ben Linton, Ed Lynch-Bell and Ian Brodrick undertook the mammoth scanning and OCR exercise needed to transfer the paper text back into computer form after the original electronic version was lost in a disk crash. This was done in order to create a world-wide web version of the guide. Mike Caine of the Manx Fell and Rock Club then helped with route information from his Manx climbing web site.
    [Show full text]
  • The Battle of Hampden and Its Aftermath
    Maine History Volume 43 Article 3 Number 1 Here Come the British! 1-1-2007 The aB ttle of aH mpden and Its Aftermath Robert Fraser Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ mainehistoryjournal Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Fraser, Robert. “The aB ttle of aH mpden and Its Aftermath” Maine History 43, no. 1 (January 2007): 21-40. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE BATTLE OF HAMPDEN AND ITS AFTERMATH BY ROBERT FRASER The successful British attack on the Penobscot Valley in fall 1814 was to annex eastern Maine to Canada, a move taken to protect the important line of communications between Halifax and Quebec. New England merchants had opposed the War of 1812, as it destroyed their interna- tional trade, and most New Englanders tried to remain neutral during the fray. At Hampden, enemy threats brought them out to defend their homes. Although Great Britain returned the area to the United States at war’s end, the occupation of the Penobscot Valley had lasting implica- tions for the District of Maine. Between 1954 and 1984 Robert Fraser was assistant curator at the Cohasset Historical Society and a consultant to other historical societies. He writes historical articles for local newspa- pers and national magazines, and has published two books on light- houses and another on local history.
    [Show full text]
  • The General Lighthouse Fund 2003-2004 HC
    CONTENTS Foreword to the accounts 1 Performance Indicators for the General Lighthouse Authorities 7 Constitutions of the General Lighthouse Authorities and their board members 10 Statement of the responsibilities of the General Lighthouse Authorities’ boards, Secretary of State for Transport and the Accounting Officer 13 Statement of Internal control 14 Certificate of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the Houses of Parliament 16 Income and expenditure account 18 Balance sheet 19 Cash flow statement 20 Notes to the accounts 22 Five year summary 40 Appendix 1 41 Appendix 2 44 iii FOREWORD TO THE ACCOUNTS for the year ended 31 March 2004 The report and accounts of the General Lighthouse Fund (the Fund) are prepared pursuant to Section 211(5) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. Accounting for the Fund The Companies Act 1985 does not apply to all public bodies but the principles that underlie the Act’s accounting and disclosure requirements are of general application: their purpose is to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the body concerned. The Government therefore has decided that the accounts of public bodies should be prepared in a way that conforms as closely as possible with the Act’s requirements and also complies with Accounting Standards where applicable. The accounts are prepared in accordance with accounts directions issued by the Secretary of State for Transport. The Fund’s accounts consolidate the General Lighthouse Authorities’ (GLAs) accounts and comply as appropriate with this policy. The notes to the Bishop Rock Lighthouse accounts contain further information. Section 211(5) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 requires the Secretary of State to lay the Fund’s accounts before Parliament.
    [Show full text]
  • THE TRINITY HOUSE LUNDY ARCHIVE: a PAPER in MEMORY of the LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS of LUNDY by R.W.E
    Rep. Lundy Field SOc. 44 THE TRINITY HOUSE LUNDY ARCHIVE: A PAPER IN MEMORY OF THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS OF LUNDY By R.W.E. Farrah 4, Railway Cottages, Long Marton, Appleby, Cumbria CAI6 6BY INTRODUCTION The approaches to the Bristol Channel along the northern coast of Cornwall and Devon offer very little shelter for the seafarer during severe weather conditions. Lundy, however, situated at the mouth of the Channel central to the busy sea lanes, is one exception and has provided an important refuge on the leeward side of the island throughout the historic period. Before the navigational aids of the lighthouses were built, the island must also have proved hostile to the mariner, especially during hours of darkness and poor visibility. The number of shipwrecks and marine disasters around the island bear testimony to this. The dangers were considerable; although the tidal streams to the west of Lundy are moderate, they are strong around the island. There are several bad races, to the north-east (The White Horses), the north-west (T)1e Hen and Chickens) and to the south-east. There are also overfalls over the north-west bank. Some appreciation of the dangers the island posed can be seen from the statistics issued by a Royal Commission of 1859 who were reporting on a harbour refuge scheme. They noted that: "out of 173 wrecks in the Bristol Channel in 1856-57, 97 received their damage and 44 lives were lost east of Lundy; while 76 vessels were lost or damaged and 58 lives sacrificed west of Lundy, thus showing the island to be nearly in the centre of the dangerous parts" (quoted in Langham A and M, 1984,92).
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom by Reaching the Wooden World: American Slaves and the British Navy During the War of 1812
    Freedom by Reaching the Wooden World: American Slaves and the British Navy during the War of 1812. Thomas Malcomson Les noirs américains qui ont échappé à l'esclavage pendant la guerre de 1812 l'ont fait en fuyant vers les navires de la marine britannique. Les historiens ont débattu de l'origine causale au sein de cette histoire, en la plaçant soit entièrement dans les mains des esclaves fugitifs ou les Britanniques. L'historiographie a mis l'accent sur l'expérience des réfugiés dans leur lieu de réinstallation définitive. Cet article réexamine la question des causes et se concentre sur la période comprise entre le premier contact des noirs américains qui ont fuit l'esclavage et la marine britannique, et le départ définitif des ex-esclaves avec les Britanniques à la fin de la guerre. L'utilisation des anciens esclaves par les Britanniques contre les Américains en tant que guides, espions, troupes armées et marins est examinée. Les variations locales en l'interaction entre les esclaves fugitifs et les Britanniques à travers le théâtre de la guerre, de la Chesapeake à la Nouvelle-Orléans, sont mises en évidence. As HMS Victorious lay at anchor in Lynnhaven Bay, off Norfolk, in the early morning hours of 10 March 1813, a boat approached from the Chesapeake shore.1 Its occupants, nine American Black men drew the attention of the sailors in the guard boat circling the 74 gun ship. The men were runaway slaves. After a cautious inspection, the guard boat’s crew towed them to the Victorious where the nine Black men climbed up the ship’s side and entered freedom.
    [Show full text]
  • The Story of Our Lighthouses and Lightships
    E-STORy-OF-OUR HTHOUSES'i AMLIGHTSHIPS BY. W DAMS BH THE STORY OF OUR LIGHTHOUSES LIGHTSHIPS Descriptive and Historical W. II. DAVENPORT ADAMS THOMAS NELSON AND SONS London, Edinburgh, and Nnv York I/K Contents. I. LIGHTHOUSES OF ANTIQUITY, ... ... ... ... 9 II. LIGHTHOUSE ADMINISTRATION, ... ... ... ... 31 III. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OP LIGHTHOUSES, ... ... 39 IV. THE ILLUMINATING APPARATUS OF LIGHTHOUSES, ... ... 46 V. LIGHTHOUSES OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND DESCRIBED, ... 73 VI. LIGHTHOUSES OF IRELAND DESCRIBED, ... ... ... 255 VII. SOME FRENCH LIGHTHOUSES, ... ... ... ... 288 VIII. LIGHTHOUSES OF THE UNITED STATES, ... ... ... 309 IX. LIGHTHOUSES IN OUR COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES, ... 319 X. FLOATING LIGHTS, OR LIGHTSHIPS, ... ... ... 339 XI. LANDMARKS, BEACONS, BUOYS, AND FOG-SIGNALS, ... 355 XII. LIFE IN THE LIGHTHOUSE, ... ... ... 374 LIGHTHOUSES. CHAPTER I. LIGHTHOUSES OF ANTIQUITY. T)OPULARLY, the lighthouse seems to be looked A upon as a modern invention, and if we con- sider it in its present form, completeness, and efficiency, we shall be justified in limiting its history to the last centuries but as soon as men to down two ; began go to the sea in ships, they must also have begun to ex- perience the need of beacons to guide them into secure channels, and warn them from hidden dangers, and the pressure of this need would be stronger in the night even than in the day. So soon as a want is man's invention hastens to it and strongly felt, supply ; we may be sure, therefore, that in the very earliest ages of civilization lights of some kind or other were introduced for the benefit of the mariner. It may very well be that these, at first, would be nothing more than fires kindled on wave-washed promontories, 10 LIGHTHOUSES OF ANTIQUITY.
    [Show full text]
  • The Corporation Trinity House Deptford Strond
    THE CORPORATION T R I N I TY H O U S E DEPTFORD STROND fl 9192111 0 11 3 E G I N ’h S T O I Y 8 N T T S u C I O N S . J p Q , j i , ; f P R I N TE D ( F O R P R ] V A TE D I S TR I B U TI O N ) B Y N R O W W SMIT H E BBS P O ST E R T O E R H IL L . , 5, , M D C I I I I I I I I I TO H I S R O YAL H I GH N ESS T H E U E O F E I N U R GH K . G. K. T. D K D B , , , aste: of fi s fi nr or ti of O rinit 0 11 3 2 w g g a nu g £ , T H E F O L L O W I N A AR E G P GES , BY E R I I O N P M SS , O R E P E U LY I CA M ST S CTF L DED TED , I H T H E L O YAL U Y W T D T , P R F D E E M O O U N E ST , A N D S P E C I AL C O N GR AT U L AT I O N F T H E I R O CO MP LE .
    [Show full text]
  • Blue Plaque Sites
    Cullercoats blue plaques Fishermans Lookout Opp’ Window Court Flats. Tyne and Wear County Council 1986. Built in 1879 on the site of a traditional fishermans lookout, to house the Cullercoats Volunteer Life Brigade. A pre-existing clock tower was incorporated in the design. Now used as a community centre. Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside. Winslow Court former site of the Bay Hotel in Cullercoats North Tyneside Council. Winslow Homer, American artist stayed here when it was the Hudleston Arms between 1881 and 1882 when he lived and worked in Cullercoats. North Shields blue plaques New Quay, North Shields Tyne and Wear County 1986 Former Sailors Home, built by the 4th Duke of Northumberland in 1854-6 to accommodate 80 visiting seamen. Architect Benjamin Green. Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside. Howard Street, North Shields Tyne and Wear County Council 1986. Maritime Chambers built in 1806-7 as a subscription library for Tynemouth Literary and Philosophical Society. Occupied 1895-1980 by Stag Line Ltd. One of Tyneside's oldest family owned shipping companies. The building still bears the stag emblem, Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside. Old High Light, Trinity Buildings, North Shields Tyne and Wear County Council 1986. Since 1536 Trinity House, Newcastle has built several leading lights in North Shields. This one was constructed in 1727. Following changes in the river channel it was replaced in 1807 by the new High Light. Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside. New Low Light, Fishquay, North Shields Port of Tyne Authority. The new Lighthouse and Keeper's house were erected in 1808-10 by the Master and Brethren of Trinity House, Newcastle, to replace the Old Low Light.
    [Show full text]
  • 'A Remarkable Fine Ship'
    A REMARKABLE FINE SHIP 1 ‘A REMARKABLE FINE SHIP’ SIR JAMES YEO AND THE ST. LAWRENCE First published in THE BEAVER, February-March 1992 James Lucas Yeo was the sort of Royal Navy officer who embodied the era of Nelson and Trafalgar. He joined the navy before he reached his eleventh birthday and by 1797, not long after his fourteenth birthday, he was a lieutenant. Yeo quickly proved to be a capable officer of initiative and daring. He was first lieutenant of the 46-gun Loire in June 1805 when the ship made an attack on the fortified Spanish port at Muros Bay. A harbour battery garrisoned by 250 men and armed with twelve cannon had the Loire under fire. Yeo led a shore party of fifty in a dramatic charge that carried the battery. Among the resulting prizes was the French privateer Confiance, of which Yeo was immediately given command. He was made a post-captain two years later as a result of his part in the evacuation of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil in the face of a French invasion of Portugal. His action at Muros Bay was repeated, on a larger scale, when he led an Anglo-Portuguese force of some 400 men and a few heavy guns against a strongly fortified garrison of 1,200 men with over 200 guns at Cayenne in French Guiana. The resulting expulsion of the French from South America led to James Yeo’s becoming the first Protestant awarded a knight commander’s cross of the Portuguese order of St.
    [Show full text]
  • Safe Passage We Talk to One of Our Boatswains About How We’Re Working Hard to Keep Our Seas Safe and Protect Seafarers Spring 2017 | Issue 26
    The Trinity House journal | Spring 2017 | Issue 26 Safe passage We talk to one of our Boatswains about how we’re working hard to keep our seas safe and protect seafarers Spring 2017 | Issue 26 1 Welcome from Deputy Master, Captain Ian McNaught 2-4 Six month review 16 5 News in brief 34 6 Coming events 7 A sea change in awareness 8-9 Appointments 10-18 Engineering review 38 19 IALA update 22 20-21 The LED revolution 22 30 Running a tight ship 23 Wake up call 24-27 Charity update 28-29 How the Merchant Navy opens doors Welcome to your new Flash journal 30-33 Partner profile: IALA I would like to welcome all readers to your new-look Flash journal, the latest iteration of a publication that began in 1958 and has since seen a great many evolutions, both 34-35 significant and minor. Adapting to climate change Deputy Master Sir Gerald Curteis’ foreword for the inaugural 1958 issue of Flash 36 stated that the object of the magazine was ‘to bring us more together and to remind us that we belong to one service.’ With that cohesive spirit in mind, this new evolution of Book reviews our house journal will renew its focus on what makes Trinity House and our mission 37 so important: the people who work for us, the people who work with us and the Former lightvessel finds mariners we serve. I wish to thank—as always—the many people who contributed to putting this new purpose journal together. 38 Photography competition Neil Jones, Editor Trinity House, The Quay, Harwich CO12 3JW 39-45 01255 245155 A-Z of Trinity House [email protected] Captain Ian McNaught Deputy Master Emergent technologies, integrated planning and better awareness of mariner fatigue are all important elements in safeguarding seafarers and shipping he ongoing need for efficiencies—properly balanced against the need for the utmost reliability—means Tthat our work as a General Lighthouse Authority demands a high familiarity with new technology.
    [Show full text]
  • Dungeness Lighthouse, Dungeness
    U.S. Lighthouse Society ~ Lighthouses of the United Kingdom Dungeness New and Old Lighthouses (Dungeness, Kent) History Dungeness lies at the southernmost point of Kent and is an enormous flat of sand and shingle which has been a hazard to shipping for hundreds of years. Dungeness Lighthouse marks the end of the peninsula and is also an important way mark and reference for vessels navigating the Dover Straits. Early Lights A lighthouse at Dungeness was first mentioned around 1600 when Trinity House reported against a proposal for a light at Dungeness Point and declined an invitation of the Kingʹs Privy Council to erect one. However persistence by the petitioner, a Sir Edward Howard or Hayman, who held a Court appointment, met with success. Trinity House withdrew its opposition and Howard received a patent in August 1615 from King James I. He marked the spot by an open coal fire and was empowered to levy tolls of one penny per ton from all ships passing it during the next 40 years. Owing to the great difficulty of collecting the dues, Sir Edward made over his rights to William A NON-PROFIT HISTORICAL & EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY U.S. Lighthouse Society ~ Lighthouses of the United Kingdom Lamplough, Clerk of the Royal Kitchen, who enlisted the help of Customs officials to collect the money at ports. This roused the indignation of ship owners who could no longer avoid paying the charges and they joined forces eagerly with Trinity House in 1621 in promoting a Bill to suppress the lighthouse as ʺa nuisance to navigationʺ because of its poor light.
    [Show full text]